Category Archives: Live Music

ACDC + Funk = Awesome!

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For me, AC/DC is one of those bands that I have a great respect for regardless of the fact that their music is not my cup of tea.

However, add a little bit of funk into the (re)mix just like in this video I found recently and Brian Johnson, Angus Young and the boys are looking and sounding much cooler to my eyes and ears.

How cool is that?

This video has inspired me to perhaps answer the question I posed to myself through this blog a couple of years ago “To Funk Or Not To Funk?”

Hmmm, what do you think?

Peace,

Corey :)

CS Gig Alert: Prom Writers Night – May 10th, 2012

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I’m really proud to be part of the next instalment of the Prom Writers Night which is happening tonight (May 10th) at The Promethean, located at 116 Grote Street, Adelaide.

Entry is FREE and doors open at 7:30pm

These nights are designed as an opportunity for local singer songwriters (that would be me) to perform their songs in front of an appreciative and have the music recorded in a truly beautiful venue.

As an added incentive, The Promethean has teamed up with Adelaide’s premier recording facility Chapel Lane Studios by offering a monthly prize.

Audience members will be encouraged to vote on each artists songwriting, and the artist with the most votes at the end of the night will win a full day acoustic demo package in Chapel Lane’s state of the art AWS room, valued at $700.

What this means is the more people I can get to this gig and vote, the better my chances of getting some recording time at Chapel Lane.

Now that’s exciting.

I’ll be playing with two other acts called “Falling With Style” and “The Two Strokes” so it should be a fantastic night I reckon.

The Promethean is the venue I’ll be using for my CD launch so this will be a good test to see how the venue works so come along, spread the word, tell all your mates and lets share a great night of music… together.

Peace,

Corey :)

A Proposed New Format For My Cover Gigs

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For a while now I’ve been looking for ways in which I can do something a little different with my cover gigs.

The reason why I want to do this is so I can stand out from the crowd a bit more while at the same time, I’m keeping things fresh for myself and hopefully I create a point of difference between me and all of the other cover musicians out there.

With that in mind I’m going to trial a different approach to my performances.

In the past, what I’ve done is created a setlist of the songs to play before the gig and then deliver a show from that setlist. What I’m wanting to do for this year is develop a comprehensive list of songs that I can play and then allow the audience to request what they want to hear.

It’s “Corey Stewart/FIGJAM By Request” a concept that has been bouncing around in my mind for at least a couple of years now.

I’ve seen this done a few times by other musicians and I thought that it was a fantastic idea. I know a lot of songs and I’m learning more all of the time, I might as well put them all to good use.

The beauty about letting the audience pick the songs I play is that it takes the pressure off of me totally because it becomes the audiences job to program the nights entertainment. I then become an interactive human jukebox and it allows me to get on what I do best.

Which is playing the songs and entertaining the crowd.

Another idea that I want to develop in 2012 is “FIGJAM Live Karaoke.”

Instead of people singing to backing tracks they have the opportunity to sing with a live band which will make the overall singing experience for the punter closer to a real band rather than singing with the radio.

How cool would that be? Let me know what you think.

Both concepts are still in its very early stages of development but as soon as I’m closer to launching them, I’ll let you all know so you can all be part of the interactivity.

Onward and upward…

Peace,

Corey :)

CS Gigs: W/E Sunday November 20th, 2011

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Here are the gigs that I’m doing for the week ending Sunday November 20th, 2011.

Make sure you mark these gigs in your diary in BOLD RED PEN.

For more information please go to my gigs page.

Hope to see you there,

Corey :)

CS Gigs: W/E Sunday November 6th, 2011

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Here are the gigs that I’m doing for the week ending Sunday November 6th, 2011

Make sure you mark these down in your diary in BOLD RED PEN

For more information please go to my gigs page

Hope to see you there,

Corey :)

Finally, AFL Is Over For Another Year

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For me, this time of year between the end of the AFL season and the beginning of the Cricket season is absolutely wonderful.

As a professional musician who plays in pubs where there are huge flatscreen televisions pumping out some kind or sport in all directions, I don’t have to compete for the attention of the punters so much.

That’s a refreshing change.

Personally, I don’t understand the concept of pubs with so many TV’s as it seems to defeat the whole purpose of going to a pub in the first place.

I see it time and time again, a pub full of people but no-one talking to each other. All eyes are glued to the sport, or the TAB or whatever else is flashing up on the multitude of screens around the place.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike sport. I just think there’s a time and place for everything.

Lately I’ve been experiencing a disturbing trend of being hired solely as a defacto jukebox politely playing in the background while the punters are watching TV or, rudely texting on their mobiles.

It seems that a lack of ambient background noise/images is the enemy and I have no idea why.

Another thing I’ve noticed lately is that no-one claps anymore (not even politely) and trying to communicate to people through live music is becoming harder and harder to achieve.

I don’t want to sound like I’m having a whinge, I really love what I do, playing music for a living and of course with every occupation there are good days and not so good days to experience.

I get that.

However, I just want live music to be seen (and heard) as something that makes a difference in peoples lives rather than a functional accompaniment to watching sport on the TV.

Is that too much to ask?

Oh well, AFL is over for another year and Summer is just around the corner. Things are already looking up.

Peace,

Corey :)

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What Have I Been Doing Lately?

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“Hey Corey, what have  you been doing lately?”

Now I like being busy but I’ve noticed that over the past three months I’ve been getting busier and busier and looking at my diary for the next three months it’s even busier again.

My normal response to being asked that question is “what haven’t I been doing lately” however, since my last full post “Absence Makes The (Blogging) Heart Grow Fonder” on July 29th, it’s safe to say that I’ve been doing a lot of activity.

Activities such as:

  • Working on my CD Project
  • Learning news songs for FIGJAM and my solo shows
  • Writing more songs with Adrian Miller and Jeff Smith
  • Starting up the Open Mic @ The Brunswick Hotel
  • Completing my 2010/2011 APRA Live Performance Return
  • Completing my 2010/2011 Tax paperwork
  • Competing in FOOM 2011
  • Entering in the UK Songwriting Competition (with Adrian Miller)
  • Playing Bass with Joe Man Murphy at the Semaphore Music Festival
  • Auditioning for Australia’s Got Talent

Of course, in between all of this I have been playing loads of gigs (as you can tell with my CS Gigs updates) at night and working through the day at Pro Advanced Media.

“When do you sleep?” I hear you ask… Hmmm, no wonder my blogging has been few and far between of late.

I had a profound realisation recently. I rediscovered the fact that our lives are essentially the sum total of all of the choices that we’ve made and will continue to make until we die.

With that in mind, this would mean that right now, I am the way I am because I’ve made it that way, not through some external influence.

My hectic life is my choice and therefore I can also choose a less hectic life. How I achieve this is another story however, I’m in love with the idea of a more balanced life.

I’ll see what I can do to make it happen.

Peace,

Corey :)

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